agency news

MARC USA renamed its shops in New York and Chicago, as ex-pected. K&R MARC in Chicago and Ryan Drossman/MARC in New York now will be known by the moniker of their Pittsburgh-based parent.

Independent Media Services was awarded the media planning and placement responsibilities for CMT: Country Music Television. The media-management firm, which has offices in New York and Los Angeles, is charged with developing a national media planning and buying strategy that will enhance CMT’s position as the top network for country-music enthusiasts. The purpose of the media plan is to drive consumer awareness and tie into existing events and new program launches.

Turnstylz, a marketer of name-brand plus-size teen apparel, has named Strategics Advertising and Invisible.Ink, both of Westbury, as its agencies to support the launch and development of the Turnstylz brand nationwide. The launch effort will encompass multiple media, coordinated with a teen-focused Turnstylz e-commerce Web site. The nationwide launch is scheduled to take place this month.

The marketing-communications firm of Fairbrother and Co. was hired by Learn2.com, an e-learning company that provides multimedia tutorials, to plan and execute the client’s packaging and direct marketing materials. Fairbrother is a full-service marketing-communications agency based in Chatham.

21st Century Marketing, a direct and Internet-marketing company in Farmingdale, has acquired AZ Marketing Services, a company specializing in list management, list brokerage, e-commerce and related analytical services that is located in Cos Cob, Conn. AZ Marketing will continue operating under its current name, and maintain its offices in Cos Cob and its management team and staffers.

Grey Healthcare Group in New York has formed a strategic partnership with celebrity marketer Spotlight Health to deliver “omni-media” patient-awareness and compliance messages. The new service will provide consumers with motivating health messages via integrated Web, TV, radio, print, cause-related and advocacy marketing. Based in Los Angeles, Spotlight is a creator of celebrity-featured health-issue awareness campaigns.

Spontaneous Combustion, a digital stu- dio specializing in the creation of visual effects and design for the advertising, broadcast and film industries, created and executed the design for a six-minute movie billboard/video wall screened in the Hewlett-Packard Co. booth at COMDEX/ Fall 2000, the global IT marketplace where buyers and sellers meet, held in Las Vegas in November. Conceptualized by HP’s agency Stone Yamashita in San Francisco and Kaleidoscope Production in New York, the video wall focused on images that shuffle a dozen times in a slot machine-like format.

IXL Digital Video Group has provided visual effects for “Attack of the Chibi- botto,” a 30-second spot for a new plastic toy from Tiger Electronics. The commercial features a giant Chibibotto trashing a metropolis in a storm of fury to the dismay of terrified citizens, helpless armies and assorted household pets. The effects are modeled after those of classic Toho Studios standards, with blue-screen backgrounds behind cardboard buildings. IXL, based in New York, provides integrated video and Internet solutions for broadcast, cable, corporate and commercial clients.

Fidelis Care New York, a healthcare plan serving low-income, uninsured and medically underserved people, has retained Eric Mower and Associates as a partner for its multimillion-dollar marketing campaign. The campaign is meant to enroll uninsured residents of New York state aggressively. EMA will handle all of Fidelis Care’s integrated marketing communications, including advertising, public relations, marketing research, sales promotion and direct marketing services. The work is being done by the agency’s Albany office. Fidelis Care will break an inte grated marketing campaign in the first quarter of this year, to include print, radio and TV advertising, as well as new corporate materials. The client has offices in Rego Park in Queens, Albany, Syracuse and Amherst.

Media Logic, an Albany-based marketing, advertising and public relations firm, was named a national winner in the 2000 Vision Awards competition. The competition honors the best local and regional TV commercials and video presentations created by advertising agencies, production studios and TV stations nationwide. The commercial the company created for MVP Health Plan’s fall enrollment campaign was named a national winner in the healthcare category. In addition, Media Logic’s spot for St. Peter’s Health Care Services was named a national finalist in the same category. The firm also entered a Christmas tree in the Albany Institute of History and Art’s 17th Annual Festival of Trees. The tree garnered the winning bid in a silent auction, bringing in $525 to benefit the institute.

TaylorMade-adidas Golf has hired Hill and Knowlton as its public relations and general sports-marketing agency. The shop will build media relations and image-branding efforts for TaylorMade’s products, people and marketing platforms. TaylorMade-adidas Golf is a wholly owned subsidiary of adidas-Solomon AG, which is headquartered in Carlsbad, Calif. International public relations and public affairs firm Hill and Knowlton is based in New York.

The Stevens Style Group’s Family Entertainment division was retained by two building-toy brands, K’NEX and Lincoln Logs. The New York-based shop is a marketing-communications agency that specializes in high-technology and family-entertainment products, productions and personalities. It will create and implement a broad-based, multitiered public relations campaign for both brands.

NEW JERSEY

TMP.worldwide Direct in Mt. Olive was hired by Beam Industries to implement its consumer, trade and dealer-focused direct response marketing programs. The Webster City, Iowa-based client manufactures central vacuum systems. The agency was also tapped by Roche-Bobois in New York to handle its consumer direct response and catalog-order-taking programs.

R&J Group, formerly known as R&J Integrated Marketing Communications, has moved to 35 Waterview Blvd. in Parsippany and unveiled its new company name and logo.

The MWW Group, based in East Rutherford, has opened its Israel practice, to be managed out of the agency’s New York office. The Israel group, whose clients include Net2Wireless, Oblicore and Intercomp, will account for about $500,000 in annual revenue.